Some 1,700 Office Depot headquarters employees in Boca Raton are likely to keep a careful watch on news from Washington, D.C., in the coming months.

They know their futures could be shaped by whether the Federal Trade Commission allows their company to merge with rival Staples.

If the merger is allowed to go forward, Staples plans to make its current home of Framingham, Mass., the combined company headquarters. Staples CEO Ron Sargent said last week that it would evaluate a "presence" in Boca Raton.

Whether the merger is completed depends in part on the FTC and other government regulators. Some say the proposed merger will be a test case, revealing how the commission views its role in protecting consumers' interests in the shifting landscape of competition between brick-and-mortar and online retail.

Staples and Office Depot argues that its $6.3 billion deal to create one giant office-supply company in the nation can "compete against a large and diverse set of competitors."

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Thomas last week wrote to U.S. Justice Department's Antitrust Division calling the proposed merger "outrageous," and blamed it on activist hedge fund Starboard Value looking to pump up the stock price.

Starboard, which owns 5 percent of Staples and 10 percent of Office Depot, urged Staples to seriously pursue the transaction, and indicated in a letter to Staples' CEO it would seek a leadership change if it didn't.

Thomas wrote to the Justice Department, "To allow the Big Three to become one would be a total abdication of your antitrust responsibilities. …Your job is to protect the public interest, not to enrich activist investors or other Wall Streeters behind this merger."

Thomas, a long-time banking analyst, wrote his doctorate on antitrust and taught for 42 years at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School. He said competition is critical to keeping prices low and output high.

Staples and Office Depot currently control more than 70 percent of the $19.7 billion office-supply industry market, according to November 2014 data by IBIS World Research.

Will McKitterick, a retail analyst for IBIS World, said if the FTC takes issue with the merger, it will be over the corporate sales market where Staples and Office Depot compete to provide office supplies to medium- and large-sized companies.

A combined distribution network could help Staples and Office Depot compete against Amazon, the No. 1 online seller, he said. "There's a possibility they could remain competitive," he said.

Robert Brighton, a corporate practices lawyer for Shutts & Bowen law firm in Fort Lauderdale, said the FTC's goal is to be "forward-thinking" and consider what's happening in business world.

Today "is clearly a different marketplace than the last time this was proposed," said Brighton, referring to the FTC's 1997 rejection of a Staples-Office Depot combination, on antitrust grounds.

But the merger also will be reviewed by the European Commission, which has been known to take a strict view of antitrust law, Brighton said.

Joel Auerbach, professor in economics and finance at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, said he doesn't expect much protest at the federal level. He said the FTC might take half the allotted 90-day window to review the case and perhaps require a divestiture.

In clearing the 2013 merger between U.S. Airways and American Airlines, the FTC directed U.S. Airways to give up some gates and routes, which Auerbach calls "trivial stuff." The same could result with the Staples-Office Depot merger.

The FTC might also look at the definition of an "office-supply store," Auerbach said.

While 45 percent of the office-supply industry's revenues comes from office supplies and equipment, according to IBIS World, the Big Three office-supply stores also sell computers, printers and other electronics, furniture and other items – which compete with Best Buy, Costco, and many other stores.

And recently, Staples has been moving toward selling a larger variety of supplies, for restaurants, medical offices, party supplies, even school uniforms.

"What are you?" may be one question the FTC might pose to Staples and Office Depot, Auerbach said.

If the merger doesn't past antitrust muster, Staples is required to pay a $250 million termination fee to Office Depot, according to the merger agreement.

In 2013, the FTC allowed Office Depot to proceed with its $1.2 billion acquisition of OfficeMax because it agreed the office-supply market now has wide competition. But that's not the only reason: Illinois-based OfficeMax would likely have failed without merging with Office Depot, analysts said.

But can similar arguments be made for a Staples-Office Depot combination?

Office Depot is still working to integrate OfficeMax. But Staples is healthy and especially strong in online sales, analysts say.

Staples ranks No. 3 behind Amazon and Apple, and Office Depot is No. 9, according to Internet Retailer. Combined, they generated an estimated $14.5 billion in online sales in 2013, according to the trade publication.

More problematic for regulators may be weakened competition in the corporate and government market for office supplies, due to the merger, some analysts say.

David Marcotte, a retail industry analyst for consulting firm Kantar Retail in Boston, said he doesn't think Staples or Office Depot's sagging business will be helped by the merger. He sees 25 percent lower revenues for each retailer over the next three years.

"If the market shrinks, that [revenue loss] could go even higher," he said.

In announcing the deal last week, the companies said the combination would generate $1 billion in cost-savings; at the same time, the merger would cost about $1 billion in one-time costs. That doesn't make a lot of sense, Marcotte said.

"I don't see where anybody comes out ahead except the shareholders in question," he said.

Office Depot's stock soared on last week's merger news, finally closing at $9.48 on Friday, just short of its 52-week high of $9.77.

Economist Thomas points to federal regulators allowing U.S. Airways and American Airlines to merge in 2013. The merger left a handful of airlines to control most domestic and international flights, and air fares have continued to climb, he said.

"What's next? CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid into one firm?" he wrote to the Justice Department.